Summary

Thieves steal the corpse of Abraham Lincoln and demand the release of counterfeiter Ben Boyd in return for the body, but the crime becomes more complicated when the train transporting the body is ambushed.

Booklist Review

Veteran western author Champlin's latest effort is based on a real-life event. In 1876, a gang of counterfeiters led by one James Kinealy stole Abe Lincoln's remains from a Springfield, Illinois, mausoleum, hoping to trade the dead president for cash and a live engraver doing time in Joliet. One of Kinealy's fellow grave robbers is Sterling Packard, a secret-service agent planted to foil the audacious plot. Packard's trap fails, and a bizarre adventure ensues. In the course of moving the body, the baddies get involved with everyone from Thomas "Boston" Corbett, the itinerant preacher who shot and killed John Wilkes Booth, to Jesse James' gang. This is an entertaining romp for western fans young and old. --Budd Arthur